How many of you harness your parrot?

[Michael]

There's been a lot of talk about harnesses and such. I'm curious how many of you harness your parrot to take outside? How often do you do this? Are there people who take their parrot outside unharnessed because it is clipped? How many of you don't take your parrot outside wearing a harness? How come? Is it because you don't want to take it outside or because you find the harness to be too much trouble?

[kaylayuh]

I finally got the Feather Tether on Cheney Bird this morning and took him for his first walk. He was clipped when I got him from the rescue and in a state of flight feather regrowth, but I wouldn't take him out without it. I think it's a great thing to do for your birds, especially if you think new experiences are a good thing for birds to have. I'm not sure Cheney Bird would agree, though. He spent most of his walk hiding in my hands and acting as though the world was caving in on him. He kind of warmed up to it towards the end of our walk, so I'm hoping he'll get used to it and be more relaxed.

I can't take the budgies out because they don't make harnesses that small, but I wish I could. I've been considering a pak-o-bird or figuring out how to alter a backpack in a similar fashion. I'd think it'd be nice for all of us to get out and get some fresh air. They aren't clipped and are quite skittish, so I'd never take them out otherwise. Even if they were clipped, it's just too dangerous to take them out in any other way.

[captwest]

My pet birds are clipped and go outside almost everyday (weather permitting) without a harness.They are also out of their cages all day when we're home, looking around the room,there 're 5 Amazons on their cages or perch and 2 immature trouble makers in their cage.If i had only one pet i might consider a flighted bird and try using a harness but right now i don't think things would work out.

[Nevermore]

Even when clipped, taking your birds outside without a harness is risky as hell. My sister-in-law almost lost her clipped cockatiel when she flew away on her. Over a fence and up a 20 foot tree.

I don't harness jack, and he doesn't go outside. I tried to harness him once, for a few weeks I slowly worked on him....but he was absolutely terrified of it. and wouldn't have anything to do with it, no matter what I did.

Our backyard is also a hotbed for birds. We put out birdfeeders, so we get all the local song birds, and all their associated pathogens hanging around....and hawks. We have a lot of hawks.

So Jack is an indoor boy. For good.

[captwest]

Even when clipped, taking your birds outside without a harness is risky as hell. My sister-in-law almost lost her clipped cockatiel when she flew away on her. Over a fence and up a 20 foot tree.

Maybe she didn't know what she was doing when she clipped her pet's wings?

Our backyard is also a hotbed for birds. We put out birdfeeders, so we get all the local song birds, and all their associated pathogens hanging around....and hawks. We have a lot of hawks.

I'm afraid that a harness is not going to protect your pet from either of those threats.
Taking your pet outside is risky no matter what you do.,To most of us it's a quality of life issue. Sorry Micheal didn't mean to derail your thread.

[Giantmoa]

Even when clipped, taking your birds outside without a harness is risky as hell. My sister-in-law almost lost her clipped cockatiel when she flew away on her. Over a fence and up a 20 foot tree.

Maybe she didn't know what she was doing when she clipped her pet's wings?

I think cockatiels are just really great fliers, they're small and light and I've seen heavily clipped ones fly pretty well. Amazons, on the other hand, are bulky, clumsy fliers and much less likely to be able to fly when clipped. I wouldn't risk taking a clipped tiel outside without a harness but I might with a clipped 'zon

[Michael]

It's not a factor of "clipping wings properly." There are several reasons clipped parrots end up being able to fly away outside anyway. I once contemplated writing a detailed article about it but never got to it. So quickly here's some thoughts about this:

1) Smaller parrots (budgies, cockatiels, etc) seem to fly better while clipped. I think it has to do with body weight to wing surface area ratios and their lighter bodies just float better in the air.

2) Parrots clipped or not still have fairly substantial wing area for gliding flight. Some will glide better and further than others but given enough height to fall almost all can fly/glide a little bit.

3) Adrenaline rushes under heavy fear can cause a parrot to flap harder than indoors and fly stronger based on instinct than witnessed normally.

4) Outside there are several things that can make a virtually flight incapable parrot gain height (which naturally will only scare it more if it doesn't know how to fly and make it get carried further/higher away). Thermals, dynamic soaring, and ridge lift which enable albatross and raptors to soar can also pick up a clipped parrot with merely wings extended (flapping or not). Let me dispel the myth that there has to be wind for a clipped parrot to fly. Thermals are convective vertical air currents that may not normally be detectable. There may not be accompanied by wind but warm air which is less dense rises and a clipped parrot with outstretched wings can be caught up in it. Ever seen a plastic bag just fly upward? Kind of like that.

Ridge lift can form when air is deflected upward by a terrain obstruction so standing on a hill or near a slanted roof can deflect air upwards. Finally the gradient between wind speed down low and up higher can create enough increase in lift to get a pulled up. The panicked parrot just flaps harder than realizing to take it easy and come back downward. Wind makes this all worse because for every second the parrot remains in the air, it is also being drifted whichever way the wind is going. So for all of these reasons, it is not considered good practice to take any clipped parrot outdoors without appropriate restraint (harness, carrier, aviary, etc).

This topic wasn't really meant to be a harness/clipping debate but since people brought this up, I felt I should provide some of my knowledge of soaring gliders and birds. I have not experienced a clipped parrot fly off outdoors myself though. For these reasons I'm not completely certain how this applies to the bigger clipped parrots. However, I still cringe when I see people walking around with clipped parrots in cities unrestrained because it would only take one jump off the shoulder and a small gust and it could end up in the street hit by a car. Not sure how bad the risk is in the countryside.

I'm not sure if clipping the heck out of a parrot can absolutely guarantee that it can't be carried off by soaring forces outdoors but it's not recommended for the rest of its indoor life because it is more likely to fall down and get hurt indoors. So I think generally lighter clips are suggested for indoors (if we put aside the clip vs flighted debate for a moment) but this can be a disaster under the right conditions outdoors.

[zazanomore]

We've had the harness for months now. I've been training him with it on and off.

I guess I've become pretty lazy when it comes to proper training lately.

But this nicer weather sure if giving me an initiative!

[GlassOnion]

Michael are you a geo or physics major?! I remember learning a little in school.

[Michael]

Nope, nope. My degree is in Business Technology Management with a minor in Psychology. I have glider and airplane ratings so I'm familiar with flight dynamics and soaring principles. I also did a self-study of college level ornithology. Two years in a row I've been invited as a guest speaker for an undergrad aviation course. Last year I talked about general aviation and soaring. This year I discussed early flying machines, ornithopters, how birds fly vs airplanes, what we can learn from bird flight but also how it misguided early designs, and the outcomes of this knowledge today. I brought Truman along for that one and had him do some demonstrations as well as show his wings.